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"It was tough for us today," Faletau said. "There's plenty to work on, but we'll get back to that on Monday.

"(My tackle) was lucky but it's good to be here."

The British & Irish Lions face up to a cultural challenge before taking on NZ Provincial Barbarians at Toll Stadium, Whangarei (Image: David Rogers/Getty Images)

New Zealand Barbarians – a collection of players from the provinicial teams including Lions head coach Warren Gatland’s impressive son Bryn – were the opponents in the Toll Stadium, Whangarei.

The hosts didn’t start like a team that had never played together before. When the Lions botched their kick-off receipt they pounced and kept the ball for almost eight minutes as they came close to scoring an early try.

Counter-attacking from a turnover, centre Inga Finau looked sure to cross for the opener until Faletau tracked back, stalked him down, tackled him and held him up with the line beckoning.

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Once the Lions started to empty what was a very strong bench they should have taken a real grip of the contest, but it didn't pan out that way and the second half was not a great deal better than the first.

As the elementary errors continued, they had to survive a late onslaught from the Barbarians in which replacement Mako Vunipola made a crucial maul turnover.